Acta Universitatis Danubius. Communicatio, Vol 11, No 1 (2017)

The
Pragmasemantic Analysis of the Correspondence between Mircea Eliade
and Ioan Petru Culianu: The Proof of Unconditional Devotion and
Circularity of Literary and Ontological Perspectives between the
Master and the Disciple

Abstract:
This
article has the aim to show that there is a circularity of ideas
shared by Mircea Eliade and Ioan Petru Culianu. Apart from the
analysis of their scientific and literary works, the focus on their
epistolary dialogues helps us identifying common beliefs and
illustrates the process of writing books and articles by means of
exchanging new and interesting ideas between the master Mircea Eliade
and the disciple Ioan Petru Culianu. However, the master –
disciple epistolary dialogue becomes an example that writers can
follow whenever they want to realize monographs about Postmodernist
writers. The article includes two main parts. On the one hand, there
is the part concerning the analysis of the letters Mircea Eliade
addressed to his disciple, the most relevant aspect being Mircea
Eliade’s methodical optimism conveyed to his disciple by means
of their correspondence, and on the other hand, there is another part
regarding the analysis of the epistolary texts Ioan Petru Culianu
addressed to his master and at this level, what is very important is
Ioan Petru Culianu’s follow of the initiation labyrinthic path
shaped by his master. Moreover, there are various methods used in
this article, written in accordance with Ioan Petru Culianu’s
interdisciplinary aim, because it includes a pragmasemantic approach,
by means of pragmatic deductions, inductions and inferences adapted
to the context, combined with references to anthropology, history of
religions and literary world.

The analysis
of the correspondence between Mircea Eliade and Ioan Petru Culianu
reveals fundamental information concerning the similarities and
differences established between the two Romanian writers’
systems of thought. The relationship between the master Mircea Eliade
and the disciple Ioan Petru Culianu is quite complementary, because
the disclosure of inner conflicts and the announcement of forthcoming
projects are shared by both writers, through the letters they
exchange. The disciple Ioan Petru Culianu undergoes an exemplary
spiritual development, thanks to the precious and valuable advice
coming from his master, Mircea Eliade. The volume of Interrupted
Dialogues: The Correspondence between Mircea Eliade and Ioan Petru
Culianu
includes important pieces of advice that Mircea Eliade gives to his
disciple. One of them is the suggestion to drop superannuated
bibliographical sources that would have been found in Romania in the
1960s and were written in that period of “The oppressive, dark,
gloomy decade”, in accordance with the doctrine of the
political system. Mircea Eliade considers that his disciple should
draw his attention to foreign bibliographical sources, in order to
write original and relevant articles that could bring significant new
discoveries in the process of understanding the world. Moreover, Ioan
Petru Culianu’s articles are constantly reviewed by his master
Mircea Eliade who also gives his disciple new ideas of research.
Another interesting aspect that can be found in the volume of
Correspondence
between the two Romanian writers is the clarification of the hidden
intentions typical of Mircea Eliade’s literary works, a field
that his disciple Ioan Petru Culianu was fascinated about, probably
with the aim to exceed his master, repeating the stages of an
initiation ritual.

1.
The Master Mircea Eliade and the Methodical Optimism Conveyed to his
Disciple Ioan Petru Culianu by Means of their Correspondence

The
correspondence between Mircea Eliade and Ioan Petru Culianu
illustrates the evolution of the disciple, in accordance with the
chronological method of presentation from the volume. Just as all the
Romanian writers were searching for a new open country to live, in
the context of a limitative and ostracizing political system, so did
Mircea Eliade’s disciple, Ioan Petru Culianu, who followed the
exile path in different European countries, such as: Italy, Holland,
France, due to the unpropitious conditions for the intellectual work
in his native country. The tremendous experience of the exile, which
is perceived as a difficult process of adaptation to new
circumstances, decisively influenced the author, because this
experience is fictionally transposed in the novel entitled The
Emerald Game.
For instance, The
Introduction
of this literary work has a confessional and autobiographical
feature, because the dark Romanian period of “the 1960s is
illustrated in the novel, an oppressive period when everything that
was written without taking into account the political rules was
elliminated and as a result, it was maintained only the conventional
direction of the proletcultist literature”, a fact which
determined Ioan Petru Culianu’s option for the definitive,
irreversible exile, starting from the year of 1972, “compelled
by unpropitious conditions”. In addition, the interdicition to
leave his native country was overwhelming for the Romanian writer,
because it minimized his working time concerning the fields of
research studied in order to improve his knowledge, as one can infer
from Mircea Eliade’s observation regarding the future of his
disciple: Concerning Romanians, students or “post-doctorals”,
things are even more complicated, due to the USA-RSR cultural
agreement. The Government of Romania should consent. (…) I
have heard, yet, that the Government of Bucharest accepts Romanians’
stay in other countries even five years after the visa expires, if a
pertinent argument is brought pro
forma.”
(Eliade & Culianu,
Correspondence,
p. 41). Mircea Eliade shows in this paragraph of the letter he sent
in 1972 the communist negation of individual freedom and independence
to choose the period somebody can stay in a foreign country and the
appropriate place where somebody wants to evolve at the cultural
level. However, the help that comes from Mircea Eliade is omnipresent
and doesn’t lack from his letters, in spite of any obstacle
that appears in the way of reaching the final objective, that each
dark prediction of future is suddenly converted into a fulfilment and
this approach becomes the expression of the positive existential
attitude, which is typical of both the fictional universe and the
concrete, profane reality of Mircea Eliade. At this level, Mircea
Eliade is the major personality “hidden” in the back of
his disciple’s professional success, not only by means of the
help he gave him with social interactions, with different professors
at prestigious universities worldwide, but also through the reading
suggestions he gave to his disciple Ioan Petru Culianu in order to
improve the content and relevance of the articles he published, these
articles taking their final shape after the approval of his master
Mircea Eliade. As one can see it, all the epistolary conversations
between Mircea Eliade and Ioan Petru Culianu, illustrated in the
volume of Correspondence
clarify the exemplary relationship of the ideative collaboration
between the master and the disciple and the similarities and
differences established between the two writers’ systems of
thought.

The first
argument in favour of the idea of the complementarity between the
master Mircea Eliade and the disciple Ioan Petru Culianu is
represented by the editorial exigency of Mircea Eliade, who imposes
the rigorous follow of various initiation stages and as a result,
suggests his disciple to revise the article he has sent and to read
more works which illustrate the topic he is interested in, and also
offers him an impressive list of bibliographical sources, in order to
determine Ioan Petru Culianu to notice the limiting cultural horizon
of his native country, unfortunately influenced by the unpropitious
communist censorship. By doing this, Mircea Eliade wants to activate
the impulse of his disciple to exceed himself, making him to accept
living in another country which is culturally open. Mircea Eliade
imperiously wants to determine Ioan Petru Culianu to study in a new
country, in order to have a good cultural knowledge, because he is
firmly convinced that in the exhaustive field of the history of
religions, not anybody can make a good work, but only the one who has
the profound wish of spiritual enlightenment or “that”coup
de foudre:
“you have it or not.” (Eliade & Culianu,
Correspondence).
The bibliographical sources suggested to his disciple are texts from
Mircea Eliade’s domain of research, such as the Indian medicine
and philosophy, a fact which illustrates these themes as fundamental
similarities of the two systems of thought, developped by both
writers, through a prolific epistolary exchange of ideas: “In
the letter you sent me on September, 4, you were talking about “the
inner sense” as “almost finished” and were asking
me “if it could have been published”. For your benefit
and not to jeopardize your later scientific prestige, I think it is
better for you to wait. Even after the abbreviated version and with
the incomplete references I have read so far, I have got the feeling
that you should continue the research and make it more profound.
There should be removed a series of outdated works and studies you
have mentioned in your articles. There is a large bibliography
concerning concepts like: manas,
hrdaya,
etc. from medical theories, such as: Dasgupta, The
History,
second volume and a lot of recent interesting studies written by J.
Filliozat. What you need is an important, well known centre of
research, with good libraries and experts (like Bausani, etc.).”
(Eliade & Culianu, Correspondence,
pp.
44-45). Furthermore, inner determination or intrinsic motivation that
Mircea Eliade wants to be interiorized by his disciple Ioan Petru
Culianu becomes authentic in the volume of Correspondence
by means of both negative and positive answers’ alternation
concerning Ioan Petru Culianu’s scientific articles. However,
this alternative prototype becomes the pedagogic model of sustaining
the talent of a disciple, through the predilection of positive
feedback in appreciating his qualities by the master, even though a
few secondary aspects linked to the way of writing, elaboration and
documentation should be improved and need drawing attention to them:
“For your age and due to the harsh conditions you worked in
your country, the article (as well as all the texts I read last
year), it is quite praiseworthy. I have no doubt that, once you find
your place somewhere, you will make progresses in a remarkable time
and rythm of work.” (Eliade & Culianu, Correspondence,
p.
46).

Ioan Petru
Culianu’s unpropitious situation at the beginning of his
cultural exploration in other countries, oscillating between his
option for Italy and that for Canada, keeping in mind his central aim
to follow his master in America, is recognized by Mircea Eliade and
perceieved as an “initiation” experience in his way to
success: “You have been passing through so many hard attempts,
that I cannot have any doubt about their, let’s say,”
initiation feature. (Eliade & Culianu,
Correspondence, p.
51). As one can notice from his epistolary confession, the master
Mircea Eliade transposes himself in his disciple’s situation,
because he finds Ioan Petru Culianu’s condition quite similar
to him. The unhappy life experience of disciple Ioan Petru Culianu
follows the prototype of multiple “symbolic deaths”
triggered by social failures and their maximal point is represented
by his revival. As one can see it, such scenario is similar to
William Butler Yeats’ theory of decay and renewal (<Latin
renovatio)
when he explains the up and down history of The Roman Empire, by
means of the concentric circles. As Ioan Petru Culianu’s
sister, Tereza Culianu-Petrescu states in the footnotes from the
Interrupted
Dialogues between Mircea Eliade and Ioan Petru Culianu volume,
the assumption of the bad principle as the a
priori
condition of the opposite one, the good principle is an Indian
influence, because the accumulation of suffering inside the human
being impetuously imposes the necessity of liberation and finally,
when it is reached, it is much more appreciated. However, from our
perspective, the dichotomy established between the principles of good
and bad, converted into a fundamental ontological prototype in Mircea
Eliade’s theoretical system, due to the positive state that
continuously follows the negative experiences of life, illustrates
the dualistic nature of Mircea Eliade’s thought, which has also
been appropriated by his disciple Ioan Petru Culianu, because it is
presented in his scientific works of history of religions, such as:
The
Dualist Gnoses of the Occident
and The
Dictionary of Religions,
the latter written in collaboration with his master Mircea Eliade. In
other words, the binary vision concerning spiritual aspects is shared
by both writers, which shows again the circularity of ideas, and it
has an important role in shaping the optimistic attitude upon life.
If Mircea Eliade on the one hand, appreciates that all the initiation
attempts his disciple has to overcome are preliminary and compulsory
stages he has to follow, in his way of reaching the final objective
of success, and from this point of view, human existence is a chain
of events that continuously ocillates between the extremes
represented by the principles of good and bad, Ioan Petru Culianu on
the other hand, takes over this vision upon life and extrapolates the
distinction between these two fundamental principles of good and bad
at the spiritual and cosmic level, by illustrating The
Dualist Gnoses of the Occident:
”The most important thing, probably the
only
relevant aspect, is not to lose your courage.” (Eliade &
Culianu, Correspondence,
p.
51) is the vehement message that Mircea Eliade conveys to his
disciple. However, this approach to life concentrates the Indian
philosophy upon life, by means of the Buddhist assumption of the fact
that nothing exists in this world without suffering, and the
individual should overcome all the obstacles, a difficult mission at
first sight, but which can be accomplished by taking into
consideration the aim of Bhagavad-Gïta
to liberate or free yourself from the results of your deeds, through
indifference. In other words, the human being should continue his or
her activity, but simultaneously live the events detached from them,
the fundamental distinction established by Mircea Eliade between the
sacred and the profane being taken from the Indian existential
philosophy. From our point of view, Ioan Petru Culianu assumes Mircea
Eliade’s perspectives upon life and introduces the concepts of
“cosmic energy” and “individual energy”, in
order to add new information to the Indian message of Bhagavad-Gïta.
According to the new Ioan Petru Culianu’s interpretation, the
process of energy preservation can take place if we free ourselves
from the results of our deeds.

The first
stage of Ioan Petru Culianu’s professional evolution has been
passed, because he has succeded in hiring himself as professor at the
History of Religions Department from University of Milan, Italy, an
important fact his master Mircea Eliade was extremely proud of, due
to the fact that in order to achieve Ioan Petru Culianu’s aim
to get a professor position at an American university, Italian
experience in the field of history of religions was precious and
highly appreciated. The encouragement and development of Ioan Petru
Culianu’s native potential do not lack from the letters sent to
him by his master Mircea Eliade: “Gnosticism and its roots are
really appropriate issues to be studied by a young man with your high
graduation and new ideas. I’m waiting impatiently the articles
you have published in Romania and those which are going to be
published.” (Eliade & Culianu, Correspondence,
p.
60). As one can notice, the Gnostic and dualistic nature of Ioan
Petru Culianu’s thought is influenced by Mircea Eliade, who, as
we can infer from the pages of the Correspondence
volume, consents Ioan Petru Culianu’s work of research and
suggests various alternatives to write his articles, by means of an
extended bibliographical list, improving the spiritual, cultural and
editorial activity of his disciple Ioan Petru Culianu, because both
the confirmation and invalidation answers coming from his master
Mircea Eliade gave him a feeling of security on his research pathway.

Ioan Petru
Culianu’s successful activity develops slowly but surely, under
the protective supervision of his master Mircea Eliade, who never
forgets to remember an optimistic thought in every letter addressed
to his disciple: “In a few words: Please, make sure that
everything is going to be fine. Marghescu will surely help you!
Obviously, I will support you whenever it will be necessary.”
(Eliade & Culianu, Correspondence,
p.
67). Mircea Eliade’s concern for the intellectual and
professional path of his disciple Ioan Petru Culianu is obvious, as
he becomes, at this level, a truly model of spiritual generosity,
because he impetuously wants to preserve a certain continuity of
religious, cultural and literary ideas, through his disciple, by
offering precious reccomendations for him at different prestigious
universities worldwide, in order to build him a successful didactic
career, which would make his American dream become true.

From our perspective, the letter
sent on June 25, 1975 is important in the sense that it reveals the
essence of the master and disciple collaboration, especially because
this text includes the central directions of shaping the research
material, which are illustrated by the master Mircea Eliade and
followed afterwards with accuracy by the disciple Ioan Petru Culianu.

On the one
hand, the suggestion of writing a monograph belongs to Mircea Eliade:
“I think that I wasn’t clear about your book: my idea was
that it would be quite preferable to start with a monograph.”
(Eliade & Culianu, Correspondence,
p.
69), and Ioan Petru Culianu’s option to capture his master’s
stages of evolution appears as a simultaneous attempt both to imitate
the model and surpass it, if we take into account his preoccupation
of clarifying his master’s contradictory political past. The
main aspect that Mircea Eliade does not agree on at the level of the
monographic approach of his disciple Ioan Petru Culianu is his
involvement in a dark subject, that is the one of the political past,
about which Mircea Eliade stated that his apparent sympathy for The
Iron Guard was due exclusively to his veneration for the mentor Nae
Ionescu, who constantly reminded during his rhetorical discourses or
lectures about this political movement and as a result, he
elliminates, from the diversity of his literary works’
interpretations, the political one that his disciple Ioan Petru
Culianu wants to introduce in his biographical work about Mircea
Eliade: “Concerning the political meaning you have found and
unravelled at the level of On
Mântuleasa Street
(Ro. Pe
strada Mântuleasa)
and The
Raincoat
(Ro. Pelerina)
short stories… I honestly tell you I have never thought about
something like this.” (Eliade & Culianu, Correspondence,
p.
136). Moreover, Ioan Petru Culianu’s concern to write a book
about Mircea Eliade is very relevant in this analysis, because it
shows the process of elaboration in case of an important monographic
work, by means of correspondence, exchange of ideas, and this
prototype becomes a model to be followed nowadays by the writers who
want to realize monographs about Postmodernist writers, for example.
Mircea Eliade appreciates the content of his disciple’s
biographical book in which he is the main character, positive
feedback becoming part of the master’s strategy to make his
disciple Ioan Petru Culianu to start new, unexpected, revolutionary
research projects: As far as I have read (pp. 1-56, pp. 102 –
08), the book seems well balanced, useful for the unspecialized
people and thrilling for specialists, because you bring a lot of
information concerning “the beginnings”. (…) After
freeing yourself from this effort, I hope you will focus on one of
the projects you have already started.” (Eliade & Culianu,
Correspondence,
p.
99).

On the other
hand, the initiative of writing a Dictionary of Religions, open to
various types of public – including those unspecialized in this
field – also belongs to Mircea Eliade and the project is
continued by his disciple Ioan Petru Culianu, partially following the
indications provided by his master: “I would like to see you
without being worried about your PhD thesis and exams… Among
others, I would like to make you a proposal of collaboration
regarding a Dictionary of History of Religions, about which I have
been thinking for long time and for which I have written a lot of
articles, published in various encyclopedias, (…) insisting on
the key
terms
(concepts, structures, figures, myth, ritual, witchcraft and so on)
and in a few words concerning the main content (Indra, Osiris,
Milarepa, etc.).” (Eliade & Culianu, Correspondence,
pp.
69-70). The comparison between Mircea Eliade’s articles about
the history of religions, the epistolary confessions illustrated
above and the content of the Dictionary of Religions, which appeared
after Mircea Eliade’s death, reveals us the absence of the key
concepts’ clarification from Mircea Eliade’s method of
research, which can be found, for instance, in the encyclopedic work
of The
Book of the History of Religions,
and this aspect clarifies Ioan Petru Culianu’s attitude of
negation upon the mythical, primordial beginning from the analysis of
spiritual philosophies, even though it cannot be definitively
elliminated and this attitude creates a separation between the
systems of thought belonging to both writers, representing the first
attempt to surpass his master: “You should introduce in this
dictionary the articles you are interested in, such as: Gnosticism,
the beginnings of Christianity, etc. and the majority of short notes
concerning gods, mystical persons, reformers, etc.; the last ones,
obviously taken rapidly from different sources, because, due to their
concision, they do not involve an original interpretation.”
(Eliade & Culianu, Correspondence,
p.
70).

Ioan Petru
Culianu’s refusal to take a scholarship and leave in India
disheartens his master, and this aspect emphasizes the great impact
Indian philosophy has on Mircea Eliade: “I am so glad you will
spend some time in India.” (Eliade & Culianu,
Correspondence,
p.
72) and one year later, in a letter, he strongly advises him: “If
I were you, I would have chosen India, apart from all the risks to be
banished one day…” (Eliade & Culianu,
Correspondence,
p.
82). The great influence Indian culture had on Mircea Eliade is
illustrated by both the nostalgic confession and suspension points
which intensify the effects of the advice, by reminding his personal
experience through the use of 1st
– person singular form of pronouns.

2.
The Disciple Ioan Petru Culianu Following the Initiation Labyrintic
Path, Shaped by the Master Mircea Eliade in the Volume of
Correspondence

The major features concerning
Ioan Petru Culianu’s perspective in the letters addressed to
his master are illustrated by: his respectful attitude upon Mircea
Eliade, his constantly concern about the master’s and his
wife’s health, and his wish of self-surpassing by overcoming
all the stages and obstacles emphasized by his master.

However, Ioan
Petru Culianu’s separation from Mircea Eliade is realized by
means of his apparent and incomplete appropriation of Indian
existential philosophy and as a result, he finds all the intellectual
challenges quite exhausting, at the same time admitting the power of
his master’s advice to overcome all the negative obstacles in
his way to spiritual perfection and negating the complete fusion, up
to self - identification with the ideal model represented by his
master Mircea Eliade: I don’t exist any longer, there is more
and more my duty to exist, to “do”. (…) Now I
accept this lifestyle, but I’m not happy with it. I don’t
want to seem like I imitate Mircea Eliade again, but ever since I was
15, when I hadn’t known any of his books yet, I was tormenting
myself with the idea of “objective judgement” or
“objectivation” (I named it like this.) Afterwards, I
discovered this experience when I was 19, at Novalis. Now my
“objectivation” means seclusion. (Eliade & Culianu,
Correspondence,
p.
90). As I see it, the critical point of view upon the process of
“objectifying” personal experience, which has been the
most important aim of Modernist prose, shows Ioan Petru Culianu’s
wish to introduce himself in the literary and gnoseological field as
a new, original personality, the impulse of negating all the previous
principles, theories and well known literary works being a natural
externalization of creative writers.

Another
argument in favour of the premise that Ioan Petru Culianu’s
scientific research strongly influences his daily life –
specialized concepts turning into analytical filters of existence –
is the writer’s belief that energy is the key concept used to
explain the evolution of this world, social interactions and
individual inner resources to finalize various actions: “I
don’t think for now that I’ve lost ”the bet”:
everything depends on my health, meaning the quantity of energy that
I could use for the following years.” (Eliade & Culianu,
Correspondence,
p.
105). Moreover, astrology becomes the mystical field which has the
power to explain the mysteries of the surrounding world in the
writer’s real life, by means of noticing the revealing signs:
“I hope that Mrs. Sibylle feels better and I wish her quick
recovery, but I have no doubt she’s going to be fine. My friend
Tui Sung Capricorn told me that…Tui Sung Capricorn, which I am
wearing around my neck for a while and which, living very high, takes
over gods’ messages more easily…” (Eliade &
Culianu, Correspondence,
p.
122). The presence of the suspension points shows the large knowledge
Ioan Petru Culianu has regarding Chinese astrology and the belief
that it represents an efficient way to direct and influence human
existence. At this level, one can notice an interesting similarity
concerning both writers’ presentation of the signs that offer
significance to human actions, due to their transcendental nature,
those being a means of mediation between the unknown, metaphysical,
divine universe and the individual. On the one hand, Mircea Eliade
encourages his characters to notice the apparently trifling revealing
signs, everywhere and every time, by means of the sacred principle’s
camouflage in the profane dimension of reality. On the other hand,
his disciple Ioan Petru Culianu feels that the interpretation of
astrological maps is quite important in providing the significance of
the events. An eloquent example is the predominance of astrological
representations in The
Emerald Game
novel (Jocul
de smarald),
used to confirm or anticipate different human and social actions or
events.

Mircea
Eliade’s optimism, for whom “Everything has a secret
meaning.” (Eliade & Culianu, Correspondence,
p. 107) becomes contagious, because, initially discouraged by his
humble situation, but at the same time aimed by his hidden dream to
become a professor at the History of Religions Department in an
American university, Ioan Petru Culianu acquires new strengths and
works with an intellectual conscientiousness which assures his later
success that finally came to the horizon, as his master Mircea Eliade
always had anticipated: “I’m trying to follow “my
heart” to the end, because I feel that’s how it should
be. As usual, I have no hopes at all and I’m still suffering. I
don’t know why. Anyway, I feel a lot of strength inside of me
and I “burn the time”. (Abhinavagupta).” (Eliade &
Culianu, Correspondence,
p.
111). His accuracy to write down the source of this existential
perspective upon “death in life”, by reminding the name
of the Hindoo philosopher Abhinavagupta, illustrates the fact that he
knows very well and wants to constantly appropriate Indian culture,
converted into a lifestyle, as his master Mircea Eliade chose to do.

The liberal
direction of Ioan Petru Culianu’s thought is confirmed firstly
by his certainty about the validity of the interdisciplinary research
method of ontological phenomena, an approach which can be found in
his scientific works, and secondly, by his perspective upon liberty,
mentioned in his letters addressed to his master: “I define my
freedom as a right to oppose myself against any claim of possessing
absolute truth.” (Eliade & Culianu, Correspondence,
p. 119). The recognition of the relativism typical of any
epistemological approach and the wish of a continuous self-shaping
and improvement illustrate Ioan Petru Culianu’s complex
personality, who confidently follows the knowledge pathway designed
by his master.

Another
important aspect that takes many pages of the
Correspondence
volume between both writers is Ioan Petru Culianu’s concern
with the negative impression hidden in the collective unconscious of
many people about Mircea Eliade, which is connected to his apparent
sympathy for The Iron Guard, due to the fact that, for instance, he
was not welcomed in Great Britain for this reason, as Mircea Handoca
informs us in his work entitled Mircea
Eliade – a huge eternal figure
(Mircea
Eliade – un uriaș peste timp).
His disciple Ioan Petru Culianu tried to counteract such defamatory
information concerning his master, by writing some eager feedbacks in
a lot of foreign publications, which succeeded in restoring the
public image of Mircea Eliade’s personality. Just as Mircea
Eliade follows the way shown by his mentor Nae Ionescu, from his
admiration upon him and without being totally influenced by it,
because he built a system of his own beliefs and moral values, so
does Ioan Petru Culianu when he accepts his master’s honest
confession about the apparent sympathy and with no depth upon The
Iron Guard, which appeared only as an expression of respect for his
mentor, as one can notice in a letter Mircea Eliade wrote in 1978:
“My sympathy for The Iron Guard was indirect, through Nae
Ionescu and had no influence in my way of thinking and writings.”
(Eliade & Culianu, Correspondence,
p.
130). The only aspect that Mircea Eliade was fascinated about this
political movement was the initiative and determination to establish
a new political climate, which motivated the writer to create an
opportunity for a new generation of intellectual young men with
reformatory visions, that is named “The 1930 Generation”,
belonging to personalities like: Constantin Noica, Mircea Vulcănescu,
Eugen Ionescu who had the aim to express the Romanian soul using
universal terms.

3.
The List of Verbal Groups that Show the Collaboration between the
Disciple Ioan Petru Culianu and the Master Mircea Eliade

At a pragmatic
level, the predominance of the 2nd
person,
plural number of verbs, accompanied by personal and reflexive
pronouns at the same person and number, conveys the respectful
attitude of the disciple upon his master: „vă amintiți,
vă trimit, vă spuneam etc.”(Ro.) (En.: “Do you
remember, I send you, I told you, etc.”). However, one can
notice important differences between the two languages: Romanian and
English, which are singular and plural distinction and the
deferential attitude, triggered by the forms of the personal and
reflexive pronouns placed in front of verbs in Romanian language,
while English makes these aspects possible by a pragmatic deduction
of the context.

Another interesting aspect that can be inferred from the symmetrical
disposing or in the mirror display of the two different lists of
verbs accompanied by pronouns is the self-centredness or egocentrism
of the disciple Ioan Petru Culianu, illustrated on the one hand by
the form of the verb and on the other hand, by the form of the
pronoun:

List
1 – 1st
person, singular no
verbs

List
2 – 1st
person, singular no
pronouns

I
send
you

You
gave me
precious advice.

I
tell
you

Would
you allow me
to ask you something?

At this level
of the epistolary discourse’s analysis, one can notice the
egocentric organization of the disciple’s text, by the use of
the 1st
person. Ioan Petru Culianu places himself as the central figure
Mircea Eliade is concerned about, and this fact shows his wish of
self-surpassing and the need to achieve a high level of spiritual
development.

4.
The Pragmasemantic Analysis of Nominal Structures from the Volume of
Correspondence
between the Disciple and the Master

On the one hand, the addressing
formula of the disciple Ioan Petru Culianu towards his master Mircea
Eliade follows the conventions of epistolary writing, by means of a
nominal structure defined as the expression of the deferential
attitude: “Dear Sir”.

On the other hand, Mircea
Eliade’s informal addressing to his disciple, starting from
October 27, 1974 is oppossed to their first dialogues from the
1972-1974 period, which include the polite addressing: “Dear
Sir” and which can be considered the time interval Mircea
Eliade needed to observe the analytical and scientific abilities of
his disciple Ioan Petru Culianu.

In conclusion,
the volume of The
Interrupted Dialogues between Mircea Eliade and Ioan Petru Culianu
is an important book in the sense that its analysis certifies the
circularity of both writers’ ontological and literary
perspectives, by means of the complementary relationship established
between the master and the disciple and Indian existential optimism
Mircea Eliade suggested to Ioan Petru Culianu in his letters, in
order to bring up his disciple’s intrinsic motivation to build
a vast knowledge of the world, that is absolutely necessary to a
historian of religions.

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